A dog's tale from the Bronx to South Jersey
A couple weeks ago, two men from Stratford reported a dog that had been hanging out on their front lawn to the folks at the Voorhees Animal Orphanage. So, of course, the staff took her in.
A couple weeks ago, two men from Stratford reported a dog that had been hanging out on their front lawn to the folks at the Voorhees Animal Orphanage. So, of course, the staff took her in.
She seemed like a nice dog. White, short hair. Lineage uncertain. Boxer? Pit bull? Some scratches, but not too bad. But nervous, very nervous. The staff members decided to let her calm down a little before checking her for a microchip.
The next day, they did. It turned out someone was looking for her. The microchip company had a number in New York City.
Kennel director Laurie Ballard called. A woman got on the phone.
"I said, 'Hi. Are you missing a dog?' She started sobbing," Ballard said. "She cried, I cried."
This is how Rihanna - yes, that's really her name - got home against some pretty stiff odds. How she got from the Bronx to Stratford is a mystery. It may always remain one. What matters is how the tale ends.
Nearly three years ago, Maria Gonzalez and her partner, Carmen Cruz, were the proud owners of a snowy-coated, pink-nosed pup they called Rihanna, after the singer. (Cruz liked the "Umbrella" song - "Ella, Ella, eh, eh. . . .")
One day, Gonzalez had Rihanna out in their backyard so the puppy could relieve herself. Gonzalez went inside to get a baggie. When she came back out, the poop was there, but the pup was gone.
"I started screaming and yelling," Gonzalez said. She and Cruz stayed up all night looking for the puppy, believing it was stolen.
"I was really upset. But I never gave up," Gonzalez said. "We kept looking and looking. We went to church. I prayed."
Years passed. No sign of the dog.
Then, out of the blue, the two Bronx women got a phone call from an animal shelter in some place called Voorhees asking if they were missing a dog.
Needless to say, the folks in Voorhees were excited, although it almost seemed too good to be true.
Animal orphanage employees Robert and Dixie Heininger, dog owners themselves, volunteered to bring Rihanna to the Bronx, since Gonzalez and Cruz didn't have a car. Others in the shelter community kicked in money for tolls and the like.
With Rihanna in the backseat, they hit the turnpike.
"She slept like a baby for two hours," Robert Heininger said. "But when we went over the George Washington Bridge, something clicked. She jumped up and started looking around."
Then they got to Gonzalez and Cruz's place.
"She was going crazy," Heininger said. "She was licking everybody. Her tail was going crazy. It was incredible."
The couple had kept her pink puppy blanket. She seemed to recognize the scent and, of course, them.
"She went right to us," Gonzalez said. "She started kissing me on the lips. I started crying."
Rihanna seems to have settled back into Bronx living. Gonzalez said she is getting along fine with Buddha and Taz, their two other dogs, and, true to the diva that she was named to be, she has colonized her own spot in her owners' bed.
Meanwhile, to the folks at the Voorhees Animal Orphanage, Rihanna's story is a testament to the value of microchipping pets.
That, and not losing hope.
Take Chanel, another dog still in their care. A gentle white and brown pit bull mix, she was found in a Dumpster with her puppies. The puppies have been adopted, and Chanel still has some health needs. But with the right home, Chanel could find her own happy ending, like Rihanna.
"When you see stuff like that," said Jennifer Bailey, shelter board secretary, "it makes it all worthwhile."
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@ritagiordano